Choosing Family
by cookieswithsoul
Summary: <html><head></head>"I guess you can't choose your family…" Aunt Cheryl said wisely, and Eleanor felt a stab of annoyance at her words. 'Of course you can't chose your family', she thought angrily. 'If you could I wouldn't be in this mess.' Because, everythings a mess now.</html>


**Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read this! This isn't my first fanfic, but it's my first one for The Outsiders (and it's been a while since I read the book too so if anything about this chapter seems odd or out of place let me know. I'm in the middle of rereading it now, and I wont post another chapter 'til I'm done.) so hopefully I don't fail miserably at it. **

**I'll just leave this chapter to explain itself.**

**On a side not, obviously I don't own anything you recognize. I'm not S. E Hinton. I never have been and never will be. Which you'd actually think is kinda obvious, because if I was then I probably wouldn't be writing on a fan fiction website.**

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><p>Eleanor Elsie Monroe was not someone who adapted well to change. Perhaps that was why she felt a strange wave of relief wash over her when her parents announced that although they would be leaving in two weeks to go on a second honeymoon (one that Eleanor's mother, June, had insisted on going on because her father was 'working too hard'), that the children would be staying at home with their Aunt Cheryl coming to stay with them for the duration of the trip.<p>

The fact that Aunt Cheryl, her son and daughter lived on the other side of town didn't bother Eleanor in the slightest. As far as she was concerned family was family, east or west didn't matter if you shared blood. It mattered quite a bit to her older brother Henry though, possibly because being the police chiefs oldest child (not to mention only son) he had seen or heard a lot more about the criminal records of their east side relatives. Neither Eleanor nor Henry shared their views with the other; they both knew what it was the other thought and fighting about it with each other as their parents were preparing to leave, and in front of their younger sister Olivia, who at the age of seven was still childishly innocent enough to not fully understand the difference between a greaser and a soc, seemed an unnecessary addition to what was already a hard thing for the family to go through.

Eleanor's views on the whole matter were based firmly in what she saw as fact – and as far as she could tell, there was no way of knowing how much of what was written in a police record was the whole truth. Besides, holding the reckless actions of their cousin Keith against Aunt Cheryl seemed a bit unjust. It wasn't Cheryl's fault that while their mother's marriage to their father had been a step up in society from the sisters middle class upbringing hers had been a step down. It wasn't her fault that because of who she fell in love with she couldn't afford to bring her children up in the same side of town that Henry and Eleanor had been brought up in. She couldn't help who she loved, even though it hadn't really been a relationship that had worked out all that well; she could still remember hearing her aunt cry for the first time after finally confessing her husband had run off, to God knows where, to her mother, and it wasn't likely to be an image that she would ever forget; Aunt Cheryl was the strongest woman Eleanor knew. Regardless, Cheryl Matthews had done the best she could with the hand life had dealt her and had brought up her kids pretty well in spite of the hardships.

Henry just thought Eleanor's views on love being the reason for the way Cheryl had brought up her children were largely influenced by the heavy hard cover editions of various fairytales, filled with stories about true love and overcoming adversity through love, which now found their homes in the large bookcase in Olivia's bedroom. Cheryl made a mistake in who she married, there was no doubt about that, but it was a mistake she would have to live with, and the price was the upbringing of her son.

Olivia just hoped that their aunt would make them one of her 'famous' sponge cakes.

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><p>Two weeks later the trio said goodbye to their parents as they heaved suitcases into the trunk of their baby blue mustang, completely prepared for two months of soaking in the sun on some tropical island. Just minutes after the car had pulled from the drive Henry too drove off, no doubt going on some sort of date to the movie house, leaving the two sisters alone at the house to wait for the arrival of their favorite aunt. Perhaps it was better that way, Eleanor thought vaguely as Olivia lined up her dolls for a 'beauty pageant' that she had roped her older sister into judging. If the seven year old was anything it was persuasive.<p>

As Olivia introduced the dolls (by name, which state they were representing and what their future ambitions were) a sudden thought hit Eleanor. If Cheryl was staying with them then who was looking after her kids? Sure, Keith was trustworthy enough, and would take care of his younger sister as well as he could on his own, but Aunt Cheryl, fierce and independent Aunt Cheryl who no longer stood for any kind of mistreatment – or her of her children, was surely a more reliable figure to be in charge. In a neighborhood like the one they lived in, Aunt Cheryl was the kind of woman you wanted around and on your side. Maybe it would be best if Keith and Abby came with Cheryl.

There was of course the tension that would arise between Keith and Henry, but then that had always been there since they were all kids. Even as five year olds Henry and Keith had fought, about the stupidest things like who got the biggest orange or got to sit in the plushest chair at their grandparents' house. Of course June Monroe had always made sure that that chair went to one of the Matthews'. The Monroe kids had enough of comfy chairs and as many oranges as they needed, and the only reason Henry ever wanted it was because it had been obvious Keith had wanted it, and he couldn't stand other people having something that he couldn't have.

"Well?" The soft voice hit her, pulling her from her memories and back into the present day. Olivia was looking at her expectantly. "Who's gonna win?" Clearly Eleanor had missed the whole 'pageant' that had been put on for her.

"Uh, well uh, Miss Oklahoma is looking pretty good." She pushed out, only slightly aware of the sound of tires pulling into the drive downstairs. It would only be one of two people, either Henry or Aunt Cheryl, and right now either one was offering an escape from the performance that was going on in front of her, Olivia's hands guiding the arms of the doll that had been 'Miss Oklahoma' into some kind of beauty queen wave. "I'm gonna go check downstairs, right Livvie?" She questioned. The younger girl gazed at her sister doubtfully. Eleanor never played games with her these days.

A voice called out from the entrance way, not any distinguishable words, just a cry that seemed to say 'I'm here', though from the footsteps it seemed like more than just one person. Olivia cried out with glee and all but flung herself down the stairs, into the waiting arms of their aunt. Eleanor stood soon after, pushing her brown curls back off her face and making her own way down the stairs. Three bright and identical grins met her eyes as she did.

And so entered the Matthews family.

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><p>Aunt Cheryl, Keith and Abby had been staying at their house for two days before any kind of conflict broke out. Mostly because Henry disliked having them around so much that he spent most of his time out of the house, never letting anyone know what exactly he'd been doing or who he was doing it with, but then from the wild look in his eyes whenever he came back and the faint smell of beer on his breath perhaps it was a good thing that they didn't know what he was doing. Eleanor doubted she'd like it if she knew anyway.<p>

On this particular morning Eleanor woke up to the blinding light streaming in through her open curtains, a dull throbbing at the back of her head and the sound of yelling from downstairs. Her mind still slightly hazy she staggered out of bed, pulling on a pink robe as she made her way out the bedroom door towards the source of the noise.

There standing in the hallway was Henry, backed against the wall by three strangers. Keith stood in the doorway, shaking his head at Henry as he squirmed. Eleanor faltered in place on the stairs, staring in amazement at the sight before her. She let out a long and shaky breath causing the five boys downstairs to look up at her. As she caught sight of their expressions Eleanor suddenly became very conscious of the fact she was only wearing a nighty and robe. Instantly she felt her cheeks flush red in embarrassment, pulling the robe more tightly around her.

Then it hit her that three strangers, three _greasers, _were standing in her hallway. Any embarrassment she felt turned instantly to horror. Three greasers had her brother pinned to a wall, in their own house. "If someone doesn't explain what's going on here right now, so help me, I will call the police." And they would come pretty damn quickly too; one of the many benefits of being the family of the police chief, any call you made took preference over any other thing that had been called in.

"Call them, Elle!" Henry called out, pushing himself off against the wall, only to be pushed back by one of the greasers who shook his head, a smirk on his face.

"You really wanna be the one to tell 'em why we had to come round here? Or should we tell 'em how you and your Soc friends jumped a kid?"

"Hey, I didn't do anything to that kid! I was just there!" Henry argued, resuming his struggle before getting socked in the face by one of the other greasers. Eleanor let out a surprised yelp of fear. Olivia was upstairs and there was no way she would miss the sound of their brothers' cry of pain.

"That doesn't answer my question!" She cried out breathlessly, her voice raising a few octaves in panic as she did.

"Calm down Ellie-Belly." Keith said soothingly, running across from the doorway and up the stairs towards his cousin. "They're just askin' him some questions, ya know?"

Eleanor pulled herself from his arms, shaking her head as she went. "Get them to let him go, or I'll- I'll…" She trailed off uncertainly. What was she going to do? "Come on, Keith. Olivia's just upstairs. What'd it do to her if she came out and saw this, in her own house? She'd be afraid to even come home from school!"

One of the greasers snorted slightly, earning him glares from both Eleanor and her cousin. "D'ya hear that? Two-Bit lets her call him Keith!"

Eleanor's eyes narrowed. "It's his name, isn't it? Would you rather I called him Mr. Side-burns or something?" At that one of the greasers cracked a smile in her direction. "How old was the kid?" She asked, walking down the staircase fully now.

"He was 14." Two-Bit stated from behind her.

Eleanor grimaced slightly. "You beat up a 14 year old kid?" She deadpanned at Henry, who shrugged but at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed about it.

"We didn't know how old he was. He just gave us attitude."

Well that was an answer she should have seen coming. Attitude could mean anything from looking at someone the wrong way (or having someone say you looked at them the wrong way just to pick a fight) to actually saying something, and somehow Eleanor didn't think that any kid, greaser or soc, would do anything to pick a fight when they were outnumbered by a group of people who were older, bigger and probably drunk. No one was that stupid.

Eleanor closed her eyes, shaking her head a little and falling against the wall. "Damn it, Hen. You're meant to be the one looking out for me and Liv, not the other way round." Some big brother, she thought, sliding herself down the wall she was leaning against until she was sitting on the hardwood floor, playing with the frayed edge of the Persian rug that their mother was so proud of. "18 year olds shouldn't have to rely on their 16 year old sisters to stop them from getting there ass' kicked."

Opening her eyes she looked up at Two-Bit, who was watching her curiously. "If you're going to do something to him could you at least not do it here? And don't kill him? Sometimes I actually like having him around, and I'd probably miss that if he was dead."

Two-Bit snorted amusedly, ruffling her brunette curls and winking at her. "Sure thing Ellie-Belly. No blood on the carpets, we got it."

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><p><strong>So there you have it! If you liked it review. If you didn't, well then review anyways, and you should probably do it if you think I have something in here to improve too. I'd like constructive criticism if you have it in you too. <strong>

**Basically I just think you should review. The next chapter is on its way but I don't want it to be lousy so any extra advice or even ideas would be much appreciated. **

**If you find something wrong I'll fix it up for you.**

**But, well, until next time!**


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